Hey everyone!
So finals week is finally over and the craziness has ended. I've spent the last couple of days decompressing, watching Arrested Development to my heart's and brain's content. Also trying to stay out of the oppressive heat and staying in my room with 3 fans (it's like 90 degrees in the city and the dorms have no AC. Ugh). Anyway, I have a couple of things to talk about.
First: last night, my friend came to visit me in the city to see me at college and to go to a concert with me. I showed her the sites: we went to Shake Shack, the Empire State Building, and the Highline. It was so funny because she was just taking pictures of everything and talking about how this was her first time having Shake Shack, which is crazy to me. She didn't know how to get to my dorms from the train station. She didn't know which were avenues and which were blocks, where east and west were. When you guys come to the city for college for the first time you'll be like her. You'll be amazed every time you see the Empire State Building. Your walk to the 6 will be eventful and interesting. You'll get lost a lot. But as you live in the city for longer and longer, you'll become more familiar with everything. You'll figure out where you're going. Like with any routine, you'll start to take it for granted. It becomes the place you live while you go to school. Shake Shack is only 5 blocks from the dorms, so I'm there all the time. It's unremarkable to me, much like most of the city, since I live here. I live here. It's so weird that I've become so desensitized to the city. St. Mark's and Union Square are such tourist meccas, yet they're where I spend my Saturdays and after classes. They're where I do yoga, go shopping, or sit in the park with some good food. It's crazy to me that my city is such a huge attraction. It takes someone who doesn't live here to really give me that perspective. I live in such an amazing city, filled with great things to see and do. Sometimes I take its convenience for granted. It was also nice to know things and show someone around like a real New Yorker. What I have to remember is that the city is much bigger than I think: there's always new things to explore and new places to go and new things to do.
Second: today, my friend and I took our professor out to lunch. I know it sounds cliche, but you should get to know your professor outside of class. Go to office hours, take them to coffee or lunch. Just get to know them. They can be really interesting, funny people. They can also help you a lot with course selection, career advice, and recommendations for grad school or jobs. My existentialism professor is a really cool guy, and he's leaving. He was an adjunct and just got a full time professorship in Pennsylvania. I took his last class at Hunter, which was such a privilege. You don't just have to talk to them about class either. In fact, we didn't talk at all about class. We got so caught up in talking to each other about everything from careers to study abroad to his college experience. I think at one point we talked about his grunge phase and he showed us his old photo IDs, and we talked about Fifty Shades of Grey. It was unbelievable. It went on for 3 hours. We got lunch and then relocated to get coffee too. It was such a pleasure to talk to him and I'm so glad I decided to take him to lunch. He really appreciated it, too. He said this is the first time this has ever happened to him. I really enjoyed him as a professor, but now I understand and appreciate him as a person outside of that as well. I cannot stress how important this is: talk to your professors. They can be really helpful later on in your academic career. And even more, they can be pretty cool people too.
Erica
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